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Thursday, September 10, 2009

I am so exhausted but the class was fun and my classmates were also asking me what I am buying now. Well, here’s what I make of the market. The newspapers are making big huge headlines of high profile launches. Some of the heartland properties have hit $1200 psf. If they are in great heart lands areas like AMK and Toa Payoh , there is pent up demand and rental yields will be fantastic given they are beside MRT stations. However, there is some concern at the high end segment. Some of the Holland Hill and Bt Timah launches priced in the $1500 plus region have not moved as expected.

This fact will place a limit on how high the mass markets homes can go up to. Think of it this way, if you can buy a freehold Bt Timah place for a couple of hundred psf more, you will definitely prefer that to a 99 tenure heartlands place right? It all boils down to simple logic. One of the key factors limiting the climb of higher end residential homes is the lack of demand for such unit from a rental basis. The investment banks are not hiring that aggressively and you can be sure that their housing allowances will be not as generous as before.

The wild card will be the 2 IRs, if they are phenomenally successful, there might be added demand by international investors. But the hot money are all looking at the US right now, where property prices have collapsed, I am not kidding! I am not saying that there is an impending collapse, but I suspect things will start to cool in a couple of months time.

I need your feedback; some of you want me to conduct a pure property training program. For those of you, who will appreciate a comprehensive course on investing in property, please let me know if I should organize such sessions where I will teach the basics and all the possible loopholes. Send your comments to my blogmail and till my next entry, have a profitable time!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Hi guys, many many apologies! I have been so busy to write new entries but that is no excuse. I just got back from Indonesia where we had a very exciting trip. We will be adding a new centre there by mid next year. Our partners are very excited by what we have built in Singapore and they are very keen to replicate.

At my last Asian Titan Trends when I shared with you what I am buying, I am happy to report that ALL my trends were dead on and you would have made over 150% over the course of a year. I shared with you, I was bullish on landed properties, the education sector, the tourism sector amongst others. I am very happy that my timing was also spot on, and my prediction of a V shaped recovery happened as I had shared right down to the month.

If you had bought a landed property in the Bukit Timah area, you would have paid $800 plus psf at that point in time. Your initial equity(down payment) would have been about $160 psf. Now prices have gone crazy and some are even advertising for $2000 psf. A more realistic pricing would be $1200, that means you would have made $400 psf, a return of over 150% plus the rental you have collected. Congratulations to the 200 attendants who bothered to come for that FREE event. Your return on investment would have been infinite. When you are on the way laughing to the bank, please remember to buy me a nice treat.

There are a lot of you who have been asking me what I have been up to. Well, I have been quite active in the property market. I bought a couple of the high profile properties, and for the 2 of you who attended my last program and hopped on board, congratulations.

All that is history, what you should be concerned with is what is happening now and even the experts are confused. I received calls from a couple of the top property experts and they are puzzled with what is happening. I need to go for my MBA class now and I will share what I think later in the evening with you.

Hi Guys! I am writing to you from the air again. This time I am on the way back from the Land of the Rising Sun. I cannot feel but a little ...

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Andy OngFounder of ERC Holdings

Andy Ong Siew Kwee currently serves as the Founder of ERC Holdings. Under his leadership, the parent group has since established strong foothold in four business silos namely education ERC Institute , hospitality, training and property investment within two decades.

Ong is a strong believer in enabling startups and young brands reach their potential. Together with a group of partners, he founded the Entrepreneur’s Resource Centre (ERC) to help budding entrepreneurs transform their business ideas into sustainable models.

The recent venture into a co-working space; BIGWork , an ideation incubator lab; BIGFund and an immersive startup fitness concept; BIGFitness is a testament to Ong’s vision of staying at the forefront of innovation.

In the fashion of undying entrepreneurial spirit, Ong also pursued opportunities out of the education and training space. The BIGHotel was set up in 2013, and was later sold in a multi-million dollar deal.

To date, Ong has built a strong portfolio in a wide range of industries; he is the owner of several businesses in education, training, print media and property investments with a combined annual turnover of $200 million.

A multi-faceted talent, Ong is an author and a seasoned property investor too.

Ong has been featured on major media outlets such as CNBC, Bloomberg and The Straits Times.